Concealment of firearms has always been of primary concern to a marksman. If the marksman is a hunter, various means of camouflaging his weapons to make them less perceptible to his prey are employed. In addition, the military uses camouflage to hide weapons, equipment, and people from the enemy. In general, the primary goal of camouflage is to make the object blend into the environment.
The camouflage patterns and systems employed by hunters and the military use a variety of different colors which generally match colors found in the environment in which the object to be concealed is located. In addition to the aspect of coloration, the various patterns or distributions of color tones on the surface of the object aid in confusing the visual perception of the intended target or pursuer. Marksmen also desire to individualize their firearms by applying unique designs to their firearms for purely decorative purposes as well.
Besides the decorative aspect, marksmen also wish to finish and protect their weapon from wear and environmental effects. Parkerizing is a metal etching process that employs phosphates to produce a hard matte or dull finish that is corrosion resistant, very durable to mar, scratches and abrasion, and is anti reflective with excellent oil holding properties. Additionally, the marksman may apply coatings, finishers and sealants such as the DuraCoat™ line of products, which are manufactured by the Steve Lauer Painting and Decorating, Inc., to a firearm to either augment or substitute for the Parkerizing process.
A number of methods have been proposed to provide for a decorative or camouflaged surface on objects including firearms. Some such proposed methods are found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,516 to Beretta; U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,590 to Browning et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,508 to Miller et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,019 to Knickerbocker; U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,987 to Kiang; U.S. Pat. No. 2,339,317 to Ayers; U.S. Pat. No. 2,294,875 to Hexter et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,190,691 to Barclay; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,305,296 to Mackay.
In contrast to these conventional camouflage, decorative and coating methods, the present invention provides for a method and a pre-packaged kit that contains all the elements required to spray on or apply colored and hardened protective coatings to a firearm, in an additive layered process with stencil/templates, that results in the generation of unique multi-toned custom patterns or camouflage on a surface, and in particular the surfaces of a firearm, none of the prior art references facilitate the application of a decorative pattern or camouflage to a surface in the manner of the present invention.
In particular the method proposed by Browning et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,590) presents a protective cover for a long-barreled firearm, wherein the protective cover is made up of thin vinyl sheets, treated with application adhesive, bearing a camouflage design. Miller et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,508) discloses a decorative layer of fabric encapsulated by a layer of transparent fiberglass. Kiang (U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,987) describes a protective covering device for rifles comprising an integral fiber cloth sheet of elastic nature designed to fit the shape of a rifle stock. Barclay (U.S. Pat. No. 2,190,691) and Mackay (U.S. Pat. No. 1,305,296) describe camouflaging large military objects such as planes and ships, respectively through the use of paint and stencils, however they do not disclose a pre-packaged kit and an additive layered process with stencil/templates for generating unique multi-toned custom patterns or camouflage on a surface, and in particular the surfaces of a firearm. Knickerbocker (U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,019) discloses preferred camouflage color schemes. Finally, Ayers (U.S. Pat. No. 2,339,317) and Hexter et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 2,294,875) both disclose coating materials for camouflage applications.